Day Twenty One - The Power to Bless
Every time I walk my neighbourhood and drive into my town, I have developed a practice of blessing the area and the people. It may just be a whisper out of my mouth or specific prayers over specific people.
Carrying on from yesterday’s devotional we see that on his way home from the battle he had just fought to reclaim all his family, Abram
encountered a priest named Melchizedek. This priest was known on reflection to represent Jesus Himself as our great High Priest.
The role of a priest was always to bless.
I love this role of a priest and I love that the Word of God now calls us ‘a holy
priesthood’
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His
own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of
darkness into His marvelous light;
Melchizedek blessed him as they took communion together..
Genesis 14:18
Melchizedek king of Salem [later called Jerusalem] brought out bread
and wine [for their nourishment]; he was the priest of God Most High,
19 And he blessed him and said, Blessed (favored with blessings, made blissful, joyful)
be Abram by God Most High, Possessor and Maker of heaven and earth,
20 And blessed, praised, and glorified be God Most High, Who has given your
enemies into your hand! And [Abram] gave him a tenth of all [he had taken].
I love that straight after he rescued his family, Abram has this encounter that points
us directly to blessing and to Jesus.
Any kingdom advancement, rescue, liberation and salvation will always bring glory to Jesus
I love the word ‘bless’ … it is what God pours out over us and it is what we give back to Him.
John Odonohue has written hundreds of blessings for all different situations. To
Bless The Space Between Us is his book of blessings. He says of the power of blessing ..
“Blessing is the art of harvesting the wisdom of the invisible world.’
‘A blessing is a circle of light drawn around a person to protect, heal and strengthen. Blessing awakens future wholeness, an awareness of our eternal life in Jesus. Blessing works to soften resentment and bitterness, to inspire forgiveness and peace, to increase our faith that what has been lost will be returned, what is damaged will be made whole. Sins of omission, regrets we carry, our participation in
cruel acts that have harmed others, unresolved anguish and the negative powers that bind us can be reframed by blessing.
We all have the power to offer blessing. Blessing is not just for ministers, priests and
rabbis. We all have the power and authority to offer blessing, to our spouse, children, parents, friends, colleagues.
O’Donohue writes, ‘the key to who you are is in
your soul…you bless from your soul, the core of who we are is good, regardless of how
bad we think of ourselves, “whenever one person takes another into the care of their heart, they have the power to bless.’ Pg 207
Blessing can be with words, but it may be in silence or in actions, a polite nod of the
hear, folded hands, to bow, to smile, nod your head, all appropriate ways to bless another.
Begin with silence, simple actions, with experience, work up to words, “May
you be blessed with health, with strength, with courage, may you be blessed with
wisdom.”
You have the power in your heart and your words to bless. To bless people, to bless places, to bless cities, to bless nations.
As you fight for your family … God will bless
you. As you put others first … He will take care of all your needs …
The inheritance you are believing for, and what the daughters of Z were standing for,
was a generational blessing…
With or without this inheritance, whether these promises you are believing for have
come to fulfillment or not, you have the power to bless and the power to receive
blessings.
Just like we breathed ‘AH’ over peoples names now I want to encourage you to learn what it means to bless and to receive blessing.
Genesis 14:18 Blessed (favored with blessings, made blissful, joyful) be …..(INSERT
YOUR NAME HERE OR INSERT NAMES OF FAMILY/FRIENDS/CITIES/NATIONS) by God
Most High, Possessor and Maker of heaven and earth, And blessed, praised, and glorified be God Most High, Who has given your
enemies into your hand!
*tomorrow’s devotional will focus on blessing your enemies .. just to prepare you in advance for doing hard things 😳
BOLDLY BLESS SOMEONE TODAY
BOLDLY RECEIVE A BLESSING TODAY